Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet - merged

Man_with_a_Plan · August 24, 2006, 4:48pm

Time to correct your Astronomy knowledge

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.

After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is — and isn’t — a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one.

Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell — a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings — urged those who might be “quite disappointed” to look on the bright side.

“It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called ‘planet’ under which the dwarf planets exist,” she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.

“Many more Plutos wait to be discovered,” added Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club.

For now, membership will be restricted to the eight “classical” planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Much-maligned Pluto doesn’t make the grade under the new rules for a planet: “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a … nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.”

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune’s.

Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of “dwarf planets,” similar to what long have been termed “minor planets.” The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun — “small solar system bodies,” a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.

Brown, who watched the proceedings from Cal Tech, took Thursday’s vote in stride — even though his discovery won’t be christened a planet.

“UB313 is the largest dwarf planet. That’s kind of cool,” he said.

More here

Hum_Hain_Lajawab · August 24, 2006, 4:54pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

SubhanAllah. Just got me thinking of the power/might of Allah (s.w.a) and his vast creation. Allah knows best how many things/unseen have been discovered and how much is left. Every time I look at the sky, the only Ayah that pops in my mind is:

"InnaAllaha-Ala-Kuli-Shay'in-Qadeer"

:D

Mr_Fraudia · August 24, 2006, 5:16pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

so what happens to Ceres and Xena?

Mr_Fraudia · August 24, 2006, 5:18pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

ahh read it so they will be dward planets along with pluto, plus more than a dozen other potential candidates ..

RotiKapraMakaan · August 24, 2006, 5:54pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

can u please translate what that means in english?

Hum_Hain_Lajawab · August 24, 2006, 6:03pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

Yes...sorry about that. This ayah is repeated several times throughout the Quran and its meaning is as follows:

"Certainly, Allah has power over all things"

some might translate a little different but basically, this is what it means.

I_m_Kool · August 24, 2006, 6:08pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

Another racially motivated move. Tsk tsk...

_Passionate · August 24, 2006, 6:26pm

so what happened to Pluto?

So did anybody read the news today about Pluto not being a planet anymore?

desidudecool · August 24, 2006, 6:34pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

even a bigger news then that is that scientists have found evidence of dark matter in the universe which is keeping the stars,planets and galaxies from drifiting away through its gravity.the visible matter out there that emits light is only 5% compared to the dark matter which is 20% and then there is dark enery too.

desidudecool · August 24, 2006, 6:38pm

Re: so what happened to Pluto?

its too small and too far away ..its a dwarf planet now

underthedome · August 24, 2006, 7:47pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

^
Has to do with it's orbit not size.
But both Pluto and it's moon can fit inside the United States.

Talha · August 24, 2006, 10:22pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

This is a pretty radical change. Just a couple of days ago, they were talking about adding two "asteroids" as "planets."

And then there's Planet X, which was supposedly our 10th planet.

So...Pluto's an asteroid then? An asteroid with moons? They were going to add planets, and now they've made the rules more restrictive. Boo-urns.

I_m_Kool · August 24, 2006, 11:44pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

"Boo-urns" :D

No, Pluto is a "Dwarf Planet" now, which is a new catergory that they created. In that catergory, they currently have Pluto, Ceres (an asteriod, bigger than Pluto, in between Mars and Jupiter) along with Xena, which is even farther than Pluto and I think bigger than Pluto as well. They expect to add more celestial bodies into the new catergory over the years. If you ask me, I would have stuck with Pluto as a planet because it doesn't do anyone any harm. The 9 planet solar system was a symbol of our progress in the field of astronomy and it should have been left as it is. .

Hahahaha · August 24, 2006, 11:48pm

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

No wonder I could never remember it in my school days. I knew it all along.

smilestar · August 25, 2006, 12:23am

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

pluto will always be the ninth planet to me

_Passionate · August 25, 2006, 1:04am

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

it would be nice if the title said ‘merged’. For a minute i thought I dremat about opening a thread

Well my sis is pissed abt this announcement bcoz according to her horoscope Pluto is her planet and mine too btw

wesey does it really matter if pluto is no longer in the solar system?

LP · August 25, 2006, 1:22am

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

Mr_Fraudia · August 25, 2006, 2:20am

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

Dont underestimate the Power of the Dark Side

Afridi786 · August 25, 2006, 3:53am

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

Hmm I think I wanna be an astronomer now.

underthedome · August 25, 2006, 4:10am

Re: Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

Understand that Pluto is nothing more than a rock that likely escaped the Kuiper Belt and fell into an orbit around the sun. It's moon, Charon (also likely a rock from Kuiper) is tidally locked to it but Pluto itself is tidally locked to Charon, that's not very planet like! The other minus it has going against it is that it crosses Neptunes orbit every 230 years, during this time (a 20 year period) it's actually closer to the sun than Neptune is (1979-1999 last time it was closer). After 76 years in the limelight, Pluto rightfully loses it's P-list status.

& &Passionate, Pluto is still in our solar system.